


Rapid Spanish, a Talk with Ratchet, and More Coffee

by ZuviosGemini



Series: Cybertron University [4]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-27 01:27:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1709978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZuviosGemini/pseuds/ZuviosGemini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The misfit group learns something new about Prowl, Ratchet learns about Optimus's feelings for Megatron, and Optimus takes another step towards a relationship with his engineering professor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rapid Spanish, a Talk with Ratchet, and More Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Another piece yaaaaay! I am loving this AU so much. Also forgive me if the Spanish in later works is awful. I took Spanish back in 4th grade (read as: a really long fucking time ago), so I'm using my good pal Google Translate to help me out. ;)

“Hey, while you may not have work to do, some of us have things to get done. Quiet down, would you?” Ratchet said over the noise in his room. His usual band of misfits—Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and their newest regular, Prowl—was sitting on the floor talking amongst themselves, but the chatter was getting to be a bit much. Ratchet had papers to grade for the next day, and even if it was just skimming them to make sure the important points got covered, it still required concentration.

“Sorry, Professor.” Bumblebee said. They started to talk quieter and Ratchet relaxed back in his chair, sighing at the paper in his hand. This person had missed the entire point of the assignment. It was becoming a constant problem. He might have to speak with them about it.

“That’s just what I heard anyway.” Bumblebee finished his story. Prowl looked unimpressed.

“Bumblebee, I’ve seen Shockwave, and as creepy as he is, I don’t think he actually experiments on underclassmen. Someone would have noticed by now if people were going missing.”

“Would they?” Bumblebee said suspiciously. “Would they really, Prowl? I’ve never seen the guy around, and yet everyone knows who he is.”

“You’ve probably never seen him because he’s on the senior fast track. He’s basically in class all day so he can graduate super early.” Optimus said. Bumblebee still looked suspicious but he said nothing more.

“That’s weird too.” Bulkhead chimed in. “If Shockwave is in class all day, how can he have time to be Professor Megatron’s TA?”

Ratchet looked up in time to see Optimus sit up straighter.

“Shockwave is Professor Megatron’s TA?” He said, fidgeting with the edge of his shirt.

“Yeah. He came into class once last semester with some copies that the Prof needed for class. He was way scary.” Bulkhead said. “He’s this tall Asian guy and he wears an eye patch because he was in some accident as a kid, but no one knows what really happened to him.”

Bumblebee looked both intrigued and a little freaked out, but Prowl shrugged.

“Who cares what happened? Did you consider that he might just wear it to scare people?”

Ratchet raised an eyebrow. One day he might have to have a talk with Prowl about a little thing called ‘tact.

“Oh, so like how you dress like a greaser to keep people away from you?” Bumblebee said. Prowl frowned at him, not appreciating the sudden accusation.

“First off, I don’t dress like a greaser.” That got him several raised eyebrows that he ignored. “Second of all, I don’t try and keep people away. They stay away on their own.”

“No they don’t. You do it on purpose!” Bumblebee continued, leaning closer. Prowl did the same, getting annoyed.

“I like being alone alright? Is that a problem?”

Optimus and Bulkhead shifted uneasily. They didn’t want the two underclassmen fighting. It was unexpected the way Bumblebee had suddenly gone after Prowl.

“Yeah it’s a problem!” Bumblebee replied, his voice growing in volume. Now Ratchet was paying attention. “Even when you’re hanging out here with us, it’s like you want nothing to do with us. Like you’d rather be somewhere else.”

“That’s not true!” Prowl snapped. He and Bumblebee were inches from each other now and Ratchet stood up to intervene.

“Yes it is!” Bumblebee insisted. Prowl sat back suddenly.

“ _Usted es un idiota! Usted no sabe absolutamente nada acerca de mí!_ ” He hissed in rapid Spanish. Everyone in the room stopped and stared at him. Bumblebee calmed down instantly, staring at Prowl with a strange fascination.

“Wait. You speak Spanish?” Bumblebee said, his eyes wide. Optimus and Bulkhead mirrored his surprised expression. Prowl tipped his sunglasses down on his nose, his eyes amused.

“Seriously? Are you even looking at me right now?”

There was a small silence before Bumblebee started smiling, making everyone in the room relax. Even Prowl managed to crack a small smile, pushing his shades back up. Ratchet sat back down and went back to his papers, shaking his head a little. Damned kids…

A half an hour later, Bumblebee and Prowl left to go to their next class, promising to be back later that evening. It was movie night again. Their departure left just Ratchet and his two juniors in the room.

“So Bulkhead.” Optimus said, flipping through his textbook without really looking at the pages. “You had Professor Megatron’s class last year too?”

Ratchet didn’t look up but he was listening in.

“Yeah, he teaches almost all the engineering classes. I took an elective course on the theoretical mechanics of space travel. Really interesting stuff.”

Optimus nodded, having a hard time imagining being in such a complicated class. Bulkhead was a football player, a jock as most called him, but he was also one of the smartest people Optimus knew.

“So was the Professor always so…” Optimus trailed off, thankful when Bulkhead picked his train of thought right up.

“Uptight? Serious? Yeah basically. He used to be in the army so he runs a tight ship. It takes some getting used to but he’s a great teacher. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Optimus smiled, keeping his eyes on his book.

“Yeah he is pretty great.” He said. Bulkhead luckily was too busy talking about his space travel class to notice the smile on Optimus’s face, but Ratchet didn’t miss it. A little light bulb went off in his head and Ratchet felt his expression go a little slack. Well what do you know… Optimus had a little crush on Megatron. Well… a big crush judging by the smile he still had on his face.

Ratchet hid a little smile of his own behind his hand as he kept grading. He was almost finished, thank god. He didn’t know how much more he could take. Half the class had just half-assed it and he would bet money that if he googled it, their information would bring up Wikipedia pages.

“Oh man, I gotta run. I have to get to my next class early.” Bulkhead said, starting to gather his things. “I have some questions for Professor Jazz.”

Optimus nodded and said goodbye to him. His next class wasn’t for another 45 minutes or so. He still had some time to keep catching up in engineering. After Bulkhead had left, Ratchet got up and sat on the edge of a desk near Optimus, getting his attention.

“So how’s engineering going? You keeping up alright?” He asked. Optimus shrugged and looked down at the packet on the floor.

“I’m doing pretty good. These packets are helping a lot. I missed the core information from the beginning of the course so Professor Megatron,” he smiled again, “gave me the hard copies of the powerpoints to study with.”

Ratchet nodded, keeping it casual.

“So you like him?”

The panicked look Optimus gave him was almost enough to make him laugh, but he resisted.

“He’s a good teacher?” Ratchet clarified, watching Optimus relax.

“O-oh, yeah. Yeah he’s a good teacher.” Optimus parroted, his heart racing. Ratchet nodded again, deciding that if he didn’t say something now, this could end up going bad.

“Alright, I’m old, kid, not stupid.”

Optimus looked up at him again, confused.

“You think I didn’t see your dopey smile a little bit ago?”

The panicked look came back onto Optimus’s face even after Ratchet smiled at him.

“Hey, I’m not judging. Megatron’s a friend of mine. In fact, I’d say I’m one of the only friends he’s got.”

Optimus’s expression turned sad as he stared down at his papers again.

“I forgot my book the other night and went back to get it,” Optimus said, “and I saw him just… sitting there at his desk. All the lights off and everything… and he looked so sad, Professor. And frustrated.”

“That’s because he is frustrated and sad.” Ratchet said, not meaning to make Optimus more upset but it seemed that that was what was happening, because Optimus began to pick the corner of his packet, tearing the paper.

“People around here are afraid of him. He makes them uneasy I guess. I don’t see it, and I don't appreciate it. He’s an adult and an educator just like the rest of us. This ain’t high school but there sure are cliques around here.”

Optimus looked up as Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest and kept talking.

“When there was a social function for the professors, no one used to invite him. He only got asked to come when it was mandatory. He used to sit alone in the lounge because no one else wanted to sit with him.”

Optimus looked really upset now but Ratchet kept going. The kid needed to hear it.

“I remember the first time I sat down at his table. He stared at me like he couldn’t believe it, like maybe I had the wrong table. It took a little while but I eventually got him to warm up to me, and let me tell you, there is not a damn thing wrong with him.”

Ratchet shrugged.

“I’m not going to pretend like I know what he’d think of you having feelings for him,” Optimus looked back down and Ratchet continued. “But I do know that he could use all the friendliness he can get, and from what he told me the other day about you two getting coffee, you can give that to him.”

Optimus flushed a little.

“He told you about that?”

Ratchet smirked.

“Of course. Who else was he going to tell?” He purposely left out the part where Megatron sort of said that he was starting to like Optimus, and that he was severely conflicted about having feeling for a student.

“Look kid, bottom line? Megatron is just barely younger than me, but he’s a good guy. If you actually got him to open up and talk to you, keep doing what you’re doing. I hate seeing him hurting like he always is, and if I’m overly honest, he could use a kindred spirit. You being in the ROTC program and all.”

Optimus looked a little more optimistic and smiled a little bit.

“He did perk up a bit when I mentioned it… so, uh, you’re not gonna get mad at me or… call me weird or anything?”

Ratchet snorted.

“I don’t judge people, Optimus. I don’t appreciate other judging me for the way I do things, so why should I do it to them? I will say one thing though.” His expression turned serious. “Please be careful? Megatron wouldn’t hurt you but take it from me when I say the people at this school are a bit screwy in the head. Any little thing out of the ordinary and they freak. I care about the both of you and I’d hate to see you get hurt.”

Optimus wasn’t sure if that was Ratchet giving his blessing or not, but he smiled anyway.

“I’ve got a lot going for me here. I’d like to avoid screwing it up, and I definitely don’t want Professor Megatron to get fired for me being stupid. I’ll be careful. Besides, it’s not like he would ever return my feelings. Like you said, he’s old enough to be my dad.”

Ratchet didn’t say anything. Optimus would figure it out in his own time.

Optimus spent the rest of the day thinking about his conversation with Ratchet. It was a lot to take in, but he knew one thing. Even if he couldn’t have a relationship with Professor Megatron, he could at least try and be a friend.

That's why later that evening, a couple hours before the movie night was due to start, Optimus headed to Megatron’s classroom with two coffees in hand. He knocked on the door and heard Megatron say ‘come in’.

Once again, the Professor was sitting at his desk with papers sprawled all over it. He looked up and smiled.

“Optimus, hello. Forget something again?” He said before spotting the coffee cups. Optimus shrugged.

“No, but I know you’re probably looking at another long night, so I thought maybe you could use a coffee.”

The surprised expression on Megatron’s face as he accepted the cup was almost too much, and Optimus looked away, smiling.

“Black with one sugar, right?” He said. Megatron was staring at him he knew it.

“That’s right…” Megatron said softly. “You know, you’re welcome to stay a while.” He said, making Optimus look at him again. The younger man’s blue eyes were bright as he smiled and pulled a chair over to the desk, taking a sip of his coffee.

“I’ll stay for a little bit. Tonight is another movie night in Professor Ratchet’s room. We have those a lot.”

Megatron smiled.

“Yes I know. He talks about you sometimes.”

Optimus hid his smile in his cup but Megatron saw it anyway.

“I appreciate the coffee, Optimus.”

Optimus looked at him and saw the smile on his face, and he’d be lying if he didn’t melt a bit.

“N-no problem.” He said shyly, his heart pounding again.


End file.
